2022 Global Food Security Reauthorization Act

From 2013–2018 the world spent 630 billion dollars a year to support the global food and agricultural sector. Although most of this support went to individual farmers, aid is still not reaching many farmers. In addition, these subsidies— especially in low-income countries—often target staple foods, dairy, and other animal products such as rice, sugar, corn, and meats instead of healthy fruits and vegetables. Such a narrow focus leads to environmental degradation and often prevents people from accessing nutritious food.

In addition, efforts to eliminate hunger and malnutrition stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The war in Ukraine, inflation, and increasing extreme weather due to climate change exacerbated the problems.

One attempt to solve some of these issues is Congress’ 2022 Global Food Security Reauthorization Act. Initiated in 2010, first authorized in 2016, and reauthorized in 2018, this act relies on a whole government approach to combat international hunger. The 2022 Act extends the USAID “Feed the Future” and “Emergency Food Security” programs through 2028, which seek to address the root causes of hunger by focusing on agriculture, nutrition, and education. This new act also improves previous versions of the bill by emphasizing sustainable agriculture and increasing the spending authorization.

While this is an important step in combatting global hunger, there is more work to be done. People can continue to advocate for global food security through prioritizing the following initiatives:

• Improving nutrition through taxing processed and sugary foods while subsidizing fruits and vegetables

• Protecting children from harmful/unhealthy food advertising

• Implementing clear, standardized nutritional labeling

• Developing a global child nutritional program

As climate change, conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and rising costs put millions of our sisters and brothers at risk of hunger, we are called to take action and ensure our global family members can access nutritious food to thrive.

Carlos Barrio is the East Africa Regional Communications Officer for Catholic Relief Services. Adapted from a Catholic Relief Services article: https://www.crs.org/stories/somalis-face-widespread-food-crisis

• Reallocating food and agricultural support to target fruits and vegetables in countries/regions where the recommended levels of healthy diets are not being met